Clocks · Table clock
Table clock, Germany, 1540–1560
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 1540–1560
- Historical period
- Renaissance Horology (1400 – 1600)
- Country of origin
- Germany
- Place
- Allemagne, Germany
- Object type
- Table clock
- Materials / technique
- steel, silver, brass, glass
- Dimensions
- height 10,4 cm; width 9,2 cm
- Holding institution
- Musée du Louvre, Paris
- Accession / object no.
- OA 674
- Credit line
- Musée du Louvre, Département des Objets d'art du Moyen Age, de la Renaissance et des temps modernes
- Catalogue title (original)
- Horloge de table hexagonale (French)
View the source record ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Musée du Louvre, Paris (object number OA 674), this is a table clock, made in Allemagne, Germany, dated 1540–1560. The Atlas places it in the Renaissance Horology period (1400 – 1600) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: steel, silver, brass, glass. Recorded dimensions: height 10,4 cm; width 9,2 cm. The record is illustrated with 5 photographs.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Catalogue description — Musée du Louvre (French)
Horloge hexagonale ; boîte composée de six arcades en plein cintre, vitrées, séparées par des termes, alternativement à tête de vieillard et de jeune homme. Entre les bases des piliers sont placés des médaillons rectangulaires découpés de croisillons. Trois décrochements composent le socle à six côtés. Dôme aplati, formé de pans ajourés de rinceaux, surmonté d'un cadran horizontal à chiffres romains et arabes. Rinceaux à feuilles d'acanthe ornant le centre du disque horaire ; aiguilles manquantes. Mouvement à trois étages ; sous le socle, la platine inférieure ; spiral ajouté au foliot annulaire. Trois ressorts-moteurs nus fournissent l'énergie au mouvement, au réveil et à la sonnerie. Echappement à roue de rencontre.
Shown in the original language of the source catalogue. An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.
Dating and period as catalogued (French)
Date de création/fabrication : 1540 - 1560
Shown in the original language of the source catalogue. An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.
Materials and techniques as catalogued (French)
Matériau : acier · Matériau : argent · Matériau : laiton · Matériau : verre
Shown in the original language of the source catalogue. An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.
Inscriptions & marks
Poinçon : ; sur la platine du mouvement : poinçon en forme d'écusson
Provenance
collection Alexandre-Charles Sauvageot (1781-1860) ; acquise en 1835, cf. le Livre d'achat n° 1459 : "petite horloge de bureau à 6 arcades et 6 caryathides en cuivre doré / 150 francs" ; minute de la donation Sauvageot 1DD139 série K n° 16 p. 177 : "Horloge en cuivre doré forme sexagone surmontée d’une coupole découpée à jour, cadran à plat en argent et gravé, les 6 arcades [illisible] devant un cilindre de verre sont séparées par 6 cariatides" ; donation acceptée en 1856, acte notarié le 6 mars 1857, n° 1371 : "Horloge en cuivre doré forme hexagone surmontée d’une coupole découpée à jour, cadran à plat en argent gravé, estimée dix-huit-cents francs".
Historical context
Renaissance Horology (1400 – 1600)
Spring power makes clocks portable; Nuremberg and Augsburg produce the first watches; the Prague Orloj is built.
Spring power made the domestic clock portable. Augsburg and Nuremberg produced gilt-brass table clocks, often with astronomical dials and alarms; weight-driven Gothic wall clocks and English lantern clocks served households. Clocks of this period have foliot or balance-wheel control and usually only an hour hand.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Medieval Period
Atlas type guide
Bracket, table and spring-driven clocks
Spring-driven clocks freed timekeeping from the hanging weight. The coiled mainspring, documented from the fifteenth century, made portable table clocks possible; to even out its declining force, makers used the fusee, a conical pulley connected to the barrel by a gut line or chain. Renaissance table clocks from Augsburg and Nuremberg — drum-shaped, square or tower-shaped in gilt brass — were luxury scientific objects, often with astronomical dials and alarms.
After the pendulum, English makers developed the bracket clock: a wooden case with a carrying handle, a short pendulum with a verge escapement, and often repeating work to sound the hours on demand at night. Later examples use the anchor escapement. In the nineteenth century, 'table clock' became a broad term for spring clocks of every nationality.
What to look for
- A fusee in the movement (cone-shaped pulley) and the type of line — gut or chain.
- Verge escapement with a short bob pendulum, often with a decoratively engraved backplate.
- Repeat cords or buttons that make the clock strike again on demand.
- Gilt-brass engraved cases and horizontal dials on Renaissance pieces.
- Case shapes: inverted bell, bell top, break-arch, lancet or balloon.
Dating clues
- Drum and tower table clocks: c. 1520–1650.
- Ebony veneered English bracket clocks with verge escapements: c. 1670–1800.
- Engraved backplates were usual on English clocks until c. 1800, then generally plain.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
Related records
Clocks · 1400–1499
Lantern clock, Germany, 1400–1499
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1500–1599
Table clock by Valentin Rutenieg, Germany, 1500–1599
City Museum Berlin
Clocks · 1501–1600
German 16th century iron chamber clock
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · c.1550
Clock, a striking alarm clock in a gilt brass case, Germany, c.1550.
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · 1552
Carriage / travel clock, Germany, 1552
German Clock Museum
Clocks · c. 1560
Carriage / travel clock by HG, probably Germany, c. 1560
German Clock Museum
Clocks · 1564
Clock, gilt brass with enamelled silver dial ring, signed by Jeremias Metzger, Augsburg, southern Germany, dated 1564
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · 1564
Table clock by Jeremias Metzker, Germany, 1564
Fine Arts Museum Vienna